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Ship it today if it needs to be of consequence, as the Moon goes void on Friday at 8:27 AM ET until 4:20 PM ET (at that time you may head to Canada, where marijuana has just been made legal). Right. And be mindful of a potential clash of wills/combative discourse around lunchtime ET on Friday, as Mercury (talking) and Mars (walking) will clash.

After 4:20 PM ET on Friday, Moon enters Pisces for the rest of the weekend. Shop away, as there will be no Moon void to render your purchases less able to fulfill what you think will be their useful purpose. Just be cautious with major investments in aesthetics, e.g. — art, wallpaper, cosmetic surgery, etc., as Venus is still retrograde.

Moon goes void on SUNDAY at 7:47 PM ET until 2:58 AM ET on MONDAY. Chill on Sunday night. You’ll need your beauty sleep to get you through the driving energy of Monday’s me-me-me Aries Moon. That — combined with Tuesday’s face-off between the Sun and rebel Uranus, plus Wednesday’s Full Moon — should start the week off with more than a few jolts and revelations.

And now, the news — over a week of it to cover. Ready?

Avid Readers will recall that last week was scheduled to be especially action-packed in the P45 administration, as transiting Mars opposed P45’s natal 12th House Pluto on October 9th. Mars also clashed with the Scorpio Moon in the chart of the P45 inauguration. Not only that, but transiting Uranus made the second of three scheduled squares to the inaugural Sun, suggesting a disruption, a break-out or something just plain wacky. So what happened?

Wednesday had three tough patterns: a brutal square between retrograde Venus and Mars; an opposition between Mercury and disruptive Uranus and a Moon in depth-seeking Scorpio. Reflecting the potential for big wave/wash-out suggested by October 8th’s New Moon, Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle on October 10th. It was the strongest hurricane to hit Florida in 80 years. Did you know Rick Scott — Florida’s governor — banned the words “climate change” from state agencies? It hasn’t stopped the hurricanes or the red tide, which now extends north from Miami all the way up to the Space Coast.

Fun fact: initially there was talk of Michael heading for Tampa, so I calculated the New Moon chart as it was seen in Tampa. Wasn’t convinced. Recalculating the New Moon for Panama City, however, shows a ton of tension making contact with the angles of the chart. Much more convincing as a point of impact. Michael hit land at 1:30 PM in Mexico Beach, just a few miles down the road. Again we see heavy tension on the angles of the chart.

Speaking of climate change, last week a coalition of international climate scientists presented another batch of dire findings and warnings, urging humankind to kick its fossil fuel habit not now, but RIGHT NOW, or we’ll be reeeeeallly sorry in a dozen years. Astrologically, I would expect the 2040s to be the decade of astounding upheaval, and since I’ve always thought I’d live to be 100, I’ll remind you in 2040 that I told you so. Until then, while Neptune continues through Pisces (until 2025), crises involving water, floods, droughts, displaced persons, toxins, drugs and oil will demand attention. After that, we’ll know what we need to fight for…and dream of a new frontier. Oh look…as if on cue…here’s a new missive from the Hathors via sound healer Tom Kenyon. We haven’t heard from the Hathors since April.

Meanwhile, as Michael and climate scientists were howling, P45 held a gathering of sorts with rapper Kanye West and 82-year-old retired NFL legend Jim Brown . You can watch SNL’s version of it here (with much of the dialogue lifted from the actual event) or read the transcript of Kanye’s baffling 10-minute rant. The point of the exercise — dear Avid Readers — is to think about what might be going on in his horoscope . If you guessed Jupiter (to reflect his ego that needs to be the size of Brazil), yes he does have Sun conjunct expansive Jupiter in blah-blah-blah Gemini. Good for you! And his Moon is in Pisces, so of course, he needs to feel stuff and, like, y’know.

Bonus points if you’re wondering how nebulous Neptune fits into the picture. Excellent, students! Not only does it oppose his Sun and Jupiter, it also probably squares his Pisces Moon. Does he have any idea who he really is? Frankly, with those four planets now in contact with…transiting Neptune, we can appreciate why he would be in his own personal Twilight Zone. Is there more? Of course! We have to pinpoint that buzz…which would be Kanye’s Venus-Mars conjunction in Taurus suggesting a need for earthy comfort, with a flair for the unconventional, as the two are opposed by natal Uranus. That need for material security is being supercharged as I type by….transiting Uranus, too, suggesting he needs to be –shall we say — innovative and exciting — in his action and social expression.

Volatility was also experienced in the stock markets last week — dropping 800 points in one day. If you’ve been reading this forecast since forever, you know that hard patterns involving Uranus and Pluto are often reflected as dips or surges in the markets. Meanwhile, in the horoscope of the United States, we see a potential focused streamlining in matters of women, money, art and expansion. Why? Transiting Saturn (Mr. Streamline) is opposing the U.S. Jupiter (expansion) and Venus (women, money, art, values). That’s good news for women of gravitas, who are ready to kick butt in the midterm elections…as voters and candidates. The flip side is the potential for harsh control. Next year, as Avid Readers will recall, Mr. Streamline will oppose the U.S. Sun and natal Saturn. More squeeze, focus and control…even as transiting Jupiter will expand the part of the U.S. horoscope that reflects our love affair with the American Dream, romanticized cowboys and Hollywood. Hmm…

In other news…

It’s too hard to write about Jamal Khashoggi, the exiled Saudi journalist who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd — by a hit squad allegedly sent by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Why? Presumably because words have power, and what Mr. Khashoggi was writing was seen as a threat to the Crown Prince’s authority. My coping strategy is to think about movies like The Shawshank Redemption, where truth and goodness do prevail over fear, cruelty and control…even if it takes a really long time. I can only say that when Jupiter enters Sagittarius on November 8th, over the next 12 months we will see significant stories involving freedom of speech pitted against the forces of authoritarianism. Today, for example, a Vietnamese blogger/human rights activist named Mother Mushroom arrived in the United States after being released from prison — only on condition that she leave her homeland. Proof that the pen is mightier than the sword?

On a lighter note…

As Uranus travels through Taurus for the next seven years, it will revolutionize our attachment for material comfort and security. With Venus retrograde, suggesting an opportunity to review our aesthetics, how cool is it to see “The Transformational Bliss of Borrowing Your Office Clothes.” Save yourself money and time.

Oh! And this one is worth a Snoopy Dance: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expecting their first child in the spring — probably around the time transiting Jupiter squares his Virgo Sun. I’m psyched because when I wrote about their horoscopes a year ago, it was clearly suggested that they would waste no time starting a family. No, you won’t find that observation on the post, because I deleted it before publishing. It felt better to just let them be. Otherwise I might have ended up in a snarky commentary like this Guardian op-ed — and who needs that?

One more fun post! Kudos to the New York Times for daring to publish “Astrology is Hard, Even if It’s Fake”. I appreciate their effort to shatter common myths about astrology, making people aware that it takes years of study and practice to become a good astrologer…and even longer than that to become truly excellent. One day maybe NYT readers will be mature enough to be allowed to post thoughtful comments on such articles. As it stands now, the comments section in the article is closed. UPDATE on 10/19/2018: the comments section is now open — feel free to post!